


In it Together

by Absolutely_Barbaric, TriggerHappyChocobo



Series: Request Fics [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Fever, Headaches, Hurt/Comfort, Illness/injury, M/M, Original Characters (not mine) - Freeform, Requests, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 01:33:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15109025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Absolutely_Barbaric/pseuds/Absolutely_Barbaric, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriggerHappyChocobo/pseuds/TriggerHappyChocobo
Summary: A fic request for TriggerHappyChocobo and their lovely OCs Su'kata and Raravus. Of all the requests I've done so far, this was the dearest to my heart and I just wanna adopt your OCs for the rest of my life ;u;Raravus' migraines have been getting worse, hesitant as anyone is to admit. And he's not the only one suffering from it.





	In it Together

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you TriggerHappyChocobo, I wanna write an entire fucking series on these boys 'cause of you now. They're so cute ahhh I love 'em

It had been  _hours._

 

It had been three long, excruciating hours since it began, and only three hours later could Raravus open his eyes long enough to make out the time that had passed. The clock in question was about to be dismantled for its incessant ticking once he could move without nauseating himself, but for now, he was remanded to the sofa. Edge of the sofa, to be precise. Over the course of those three hours, he’d managed to scoot himself and his blanket nest as close to the corner as possible. He wouldn’t have even noticed without the only comfortable pillow tumbling to the floor. Or himself nearly joining it there when he tried to reach out and grab it.

 

All he could think was that Su’kata should have been home by now. It was the recurring thought that drilled itself harder into his mind than the physical throbbing of his skull, threatening to deprive him of sleep until he knew for certain where the other was. Secondary to that conflict was the one which begged the question as to whether or not he even wanted him here, seeing him like this and getting all worked up as he’d witnessed before. For every vision that befell Raravus and the migraine plaguing him afterwards, it took Su’kata days to come back to his carefree self and quit attending to him like he was an invalid.

 

Without him though, it was hard to stay rational through the pain. No matter how well he prided himself on his reasoning, it was hard not to feel as though this migraine would never end, or that he’d simply drop dead from it in a matter of time. His head  _hurt,_  and he just wasn’t able to pretend like he didn’t want Su’kata to come home already. It was about time they had this… talk, anyway. There were certain to be migraines in the future.

 

Not a minute later, his prayers were answered. Raravus flinched at the slam of the door and held himself taut on the sofa, unable to so much as shut his eyes in pain without worsening it further.

 

“You wouldn’t  _believe_ how much this cider cost me,” Su’kata announced to the crowd of one in their humble apartment. He lugged in countless bags through the door with his entire face radiating pride. “I’ll give you a hint: two gil.  _Per bottle._ ” A warm greeting or laughter at his antics was expected, yet it never came. Suspicious. He rose an eyebrow and tiptoed to set their new haul upon the marble table, grinning in anticipation of a surprise. But optimism fell short, and in peering over the sofa that first obstructed his view, he finally saw why.

 

“ _Hey,_ ” Though taken aback, Su’kata’s voice had fallen hushed, as were his now uncharacteristically delicate footsteps. The first instinct that shot through Raravus was to at least insist he was just tired, but he could only wordlessly part his lips. Finally having him back was too much of a relief to think properly when it was already difficult.

 

“Again…?” Su’kata asked, “When did it happen?”

 

The perfect question. If he were to answer truthfully, Raravus could only envision his guilt and the apologies that would come. If he were to lie, well, that would be just as shitty.  
“Not too long ago,” his answer eventually came out slow, “… A couple of hours?” He resisted the urge to helplessly rub at his temples again, but Su’kata was already there, lightly ghosting his fingertips over the side of his head. It felt nice, so nice he almost forgot it hurt in the first place.

 

“Rara… ” By the thoughtful clouds in his ever telling eyes, Raravus knew. And he was right. “They’re becoming more frequent, aren’t they?”

 

They were becoming more frequent, and they were becoming far more intolerable. This time around, Su’kata noted, he hadn’t even managed to turn off the lights for himself. No matter how you looked at it, this migraine was the worst he’d seen so far. Drawing his fingers over the mark above Raravus’s eyebrow to his forehead, Su’kata flattened his palm and went silent for a moment, then brought his hand back to his cheek. “You’re warm.”

 

“I guess I was a little under the weather to begin with,” Raravus offered up. It held some truth, but he didn’t have anyone convinced, including himself. He touched Su’kata’s hand on his own cheek, meeting eyes that were soon to avert themselves away. It wasn’t because he’d been missing when it started, Raravus knew that. Su’kata was not naive enough to blame himself for such a thing. But no one of conscience as strong as his could shrug off the incident that set these visions and headaches into motion. Under the layers of goofiness that Raravus adored, Su’kata was not the type of man to forfeit blame, nor rest until he could atone as he saw fit. Raravus loved him for that too, as he loved the rest of him. It didn’t mean he would let him go on blaming himself forever.

 

“It’ll pass,” he reassured him. “I’ll be back to myself in no time.” They were all the things he’d been telling himself since it began, not three hours ago, but the very first time. It used to be true. A strong potion, a long rest, and before they knew it, the entire thing was behind them. Until it happened again. And again. And the time after that, potions were useless until his headache waned. Now he feared they wouldn’t work at all.

 

That didn’t stop Su’kata from trying. With nothing but a smile in response to Raravus’s reassurances, he made for the kitchen after switching off most of the lights, surprisingly skilled in his endeavor of silently brewing and mixing tea. All that could be heard was the occasional clink of spoon to cup, accompanied by a few other sounds Raravus couldn’t quite make out. It was the scent that caught his attention, bringing him yet again out of the sleep he was falling into.

 

“That smells like… ” He could hear Su’kata going still, which cemented his certainty. “Onyx tears? Where in the world did you get those?” Just the volume of his own voice gave him another wave of pulsing tension, soon to become unbearable if it went any further.

 

“I told you,” Su’kata spoke softly, “I saved a lot of money. It wasn’t much.” He was lying. They couldn’t afford it if they stopped spending altogether for the next month, not to mention it couldn’t be bought in any marketplace to begin with. Bewildered, Raravus sat up and immediately groaned in response, pressing the heel of his hand to his head.

 

“Rara-” Silence was sacrificed in order to hurry back to the sofa, as were a few droplets of the tea he brought. “ _Raravus,_  you’re gonna hurt yourself!”

 

With tenderness as light as a feather, he eased him back against a set of pillows instead. But underneath that tenderness, Raravus could feel that his hands were trembling. He couldn’t stand by this anymore.

 

“Su’kata, it isn’t your fault.”

 

Su’kata was not so good at pretending he didn’t hear. A moment’s hesitation, and he was reaching for the saucer again. “Here, take your tea-”

 

“It’s not your fault.”

 

Visibly, his jaw tightened. He knew Raravus was not going to let up, and he couldn’t have him exerting himself anymore. “I know that,” he whispered with the slight nod of his head. But still, it wasn’t enough.

 

“No, you don’t,” Raravus insisted. His voice was even quieter than Su’kata’s, yet each word felt more forceful. “Your magic, you didn’t mean to hit me with it. These realities, these headaches, my eye… You never meant for any of it to happen.”

 

“But it  _did_  happen,” Su’kata’s shoulders caved in, his head hung shamefully no matter what Raravus implored of him. “Someone’s got to find a way to fix it. You shouldn’t be thinking about all of this right now, it’ll just hurt worse.” He just wished he was in a position to be firm. This, too, was ultimately because of him.

 

Raravus opened his mouth again, but he was cut off by a horrible throbbing in his skull that made his entire body shudder. Once more, the cup of tea was pushed at his chest. This time he drank from it, though not without pushing the back of his hand to his mouth in the hopes his nausea wouldn’t take over. It terrified Su’kata to see. “All I’m asking,” he mumbled through intervals of pain and drowsiness, “is that you realize what you can and cannot do. We’re here to fix it together, aren’t we…?”

 

Su’kata looked down at his knees, his response a mere nod. “ _Su’ka,_ ” Raravus called to him gently. His head rose and he nodded again, a little more assured.

 

“Yeah,” he said after a moment, “… Yeah. Together.”

 

He meant it, tentatively, as deep as his worry remained. Raravus had a way of persuading anyone, and he was no exception. Though the concern lingered, he was able to watch him finish off his tea without getting lost in guilted thoughts again, enough to even smile when he saw Raravus seemed to enjoy the flavor. Of course, he still had another question coming to him.

 

“I’m serious, where did you get onyx tears?” Nothing got past him, apparently. But at that Su’kata just smiled wider, scratching the back of his neck with a little embarrassment.

 

“Found it. There was this drunk old merchant asleep in the alleyway, I saw it sticking out of his pocket.”

 

“So, you stole it.” Raravus raised an eyebrow at him, but he couldn’t keep the amusement off his face.

 

“Stole, found… Aren’t you supposed to be trying to sleep?” It was a relief once he finally relented and handed back his now empty cup. For the first time, Su’kata found himself able to calm down a little and adjusted the pillows to lie down, comforted by the new lightness in his chest that came from Raravus’s always thoughtful words. It was hard to watch him so exhausted, but for optimism’s sake, at least he was getting some rest.

 

“You’ll feel better when you wake up,” he said, brushing the strands of Raravus’s hair from his face. “I promise.”

 

A chaste kiss to his forehead reminded him of the slight fever, though he didn’t have much time to dwell on it when a hand was on the back of his neck, and his lips were suddenly on Raravus’s own instead. It still bugged him that he could be made to blush like this. Some people were just too suave for their own good.

 

The potion was working rapidly, an amazement to Su’kata even though he’d seen him pass out after hitting the pillow on other occasions. In all honesty, he hadn’t expected it to be the legitimate potion in the first place. Still, regardless of reassuring words, he couldn’t help but fear the future to come, when these visions were inevitable to return. He likely would not stumble across onyx tears again. They would face it this anomaly together, that was what he promised… He just hoped he was right to promise it.

 

“Night…” came Raravus’s last airy murmur, his hand falling slack a little too quickly for Su’kata’s comfort. As long as he was resting at all, he reminded himself again and again. He would stay until he woke, whenever that would be.

 

_“Sleep well.”_


End file.
